Binder case construction convertible to easel form



F. S. SCHADE Feb. 18, 1964 BINDER CASE CONSTRUCTION CONVERTIBLE T0 'EASEL FORM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 12 1959 V R w m m 2 3 FRANK $TANLY 501/105 M66 0 7&1

ATTORNEYS F. :s. *SCHADE 3,121,576

BINDER cAsE CONSTRUCTION CONVERTIBLE T0 EASEL FORM Feb. 1 8, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet .2

k INV EN TOR. l4

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII FRANK STANLI'I Y $CHAD .BY 64 w '%l ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,121,576 BKNDER CASE CGNSTRUCTEGN CONVERTIBLE Ti) EAtiEL FORM rank Stanley Schade, Holyoke, Mass, assignor to National Blank Book Company, Holyoke, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Oct. 12, 1959, Ser. No. 846,006 2 Clairns. (Cl. 2dil--33) This invention relates to hinder case assemblies and particularly to a binder case convertible to easel form. It is especially adapted for use with loose leaf binder mechanisms.

The nearest prior art known to me is Patent No. 2,883,- 209 granted April 21, 1959.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a binder compact and easy to handle and having the outward appearance and convenience of a conventional binder but which possesses the additional capability of being readily manipulated to an adjustably positioned self-supporting open and upstanding condition on a supporting surface. The pages or sheets of the binder may then be viewed and used as for display or other reference purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a convertible binder case for service in the normal manner and for optional use as an easel for presentation and display of the binder contents, or convenience in referring to material appearing on the pages, and without the need for relatively elaborate apparatus or expensive parts. From the standpoint of outward appearance a binder made according to the present invention looks like the ordinary article, is handled and used as such, and yet is convertible to easel form with a minimum of adjustment.

The above and other objects and advantages of this in vention will be apparent from the following description and with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a loose leaf binder embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the binder of FIG. 1 with the cover panels adjusted to the easel form for a self-supporting position;

FIG. 3 is a side elev-ational view on an enlarged scale of the easel stand position of the assembly with parts cut away and sheets removed from the rings;

FIG. 4 is a cross section of the rigid channel strip support and easel brace in inoperative nested position;

PEG. 5 is a partial plan view as seen in direction a of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the cover panel unit showing a preferred construction of the same.

Referring to the drawings, a loose leaf binder embodying the invention is shown in closed condition by PEG. 1. The binder is of generally conventional appearance and may be used and handled in the same manner as such binders have always been used. As indicated in FIG. 2 the center or back strip of the binder case has a toggle plate mechanism with three rings on which a loose leaf sheet pack is mounted. The toggle plate ring mechanism by itself, is of a stanadrd form, well known in the trade, and needs no further detailed explantion. Other types of sheet holding mechanism might also be similarly mounted as will be appreciated.

As is also seen by PEG. 2 the binder of this invention has the additional capability of being arranged in a selfsupporting position when opened and placed in an upstanding condition on a supporting surface such as a desk or table top. The special construction disclosed herein enables the binder case to be swung or pivoted out of the plane of the several lower panel portions and thereby 3 ,121,576 Patented Feb. 18, 1964 be positioned to hold the lower portions after the manner of an easel for the loose leaf sheet contents. In this latter position the pages or sheets 6 of the binder are maintained on an inclined or oblique plane convenient for viewing, display or reference purposes as will be readily seen from the view of FIG. 2.

In the drawings the cover panel assembly of the case is designated generally by numeral 8. It comprises a back panel 10 to which are hinged the inner edges of a pair of cover panels 12 and 14. Upwardly of the transverse midlines of each of the panels are hinges 16, 1? and 20 which are correspondingly positioned across the cover and back panels parallel to the upper and lower edges 21 and 23 of the case. The ring binder toggle plate unit, indicated by numeral 22 (see 'FIGS. 2 and 3), is secured on a rigid mounting plate as a channel strip support member 28, which is fixed in turn to the lower portion only of the back panel 14 by suitable means such as rivets 24. The mounting plate 28 and sheet holding unit 22 with ring halves 25 overlying a conventional spring plate 23 extends generally the full length of the back panel it in the flat planar position of the upper and lower hinged portions thereof.

The upper portions of the back and two cover panels above hinges 16, 18 and 20 may be pivoted relative to the lower portions only when the case is fully opened and all the panels are disposed in coplanar relation. The hinges connecting the two covers to the back panel 16 otherwise prevent such pivotal movement. When the upper portions are, however, folded back in the manner shown by FIG. 2 and held there as will be described, the mounting plate 28 with toggle unit 22 extends upwardly of the lower portions as a spinal column and the loose leaf sheet pack is held on the rings positioned as on an easel stand. If needed or desired stiff flippers as indicated at 6' may be used so as to make certain the upper outside corners of the binder pages do not bend over as may happen if the pages are of thin paper stock.

Means for retaining the upper portions of the case 3 in the easel-like supporting position comprise (FIG. 3) a slidable latch or brace as a plate 26, slidably and pivotably mounted relative to the upper section of the plate 28 and the sheet holding ring metal unit 22. The plate 28, as shown by FIGS. 3 and 4, is preferably formed as a shallow channel strip or U-shaped member with flanged side walls 29. To the plate 28 between the sides 29 is fixed the ring metal 22 and, in the construction shown, rivets 24 secure not only the plate 28 to the lower portion of back panel it} but also the unit 22 to plate 28. In the upper section of plate 28 a rivet 27 fixes only the unit 22 to the plate.

At the upper section of the channel plate 28 are oppositely located notched portions or open slots in each side wall as indicated at 36. The brace 26 is frictionally latched in various operative positions in cooperation with the notched sections 39 and acts as a brace or strut to retain the angular relation of the upper and lower panel portions.

Plate 26 in the form shown (FIGS. 3 and 4) is also a shallow U-shaped channel piece and includes flanged parallel side walls 32 and a connecting rear or back wall 34. Wall 34 is of slightly greater width than plate 23 and thus it fits snugly against and nests with the upper section of the plate 28. The flanged walls 32 extend beyond the upper edge at 35 of wall 34 and tabs or cars 36 (FIGS. 4 and 5) are turned inwardly from the upper forward edges of these extensions. The ears are parallel to wall 34 and overlie the slotted edges 30' of walls 29. The cars 36 are spaced upwardly and forwardly of the edge 35 and thus permit plate 26 to slide freely along the edges 39 and to pivot relative to plate 28 until the lower end of plate 26 is swung into a supporting position and engages its lower end at 3 8 against the inside surface of the upper back panel portion as seen in PEG. 3. As in FIG. 3, the lower edges of cars 36 and the upper edge 35 of wall 34 bear against the slots 30 and the undersurface of wall 28, respectively, when plate 26 is set at a predetermined acute angle to the wall 28. Plate 26 when in contact with panel in is thus frictionally latched in a selected angular relation to the channeled back plate, the tendency of the angled upper and lower panel portions to spread apart serving to cause a binding or biting action of the described cared pivotal connection of plate 25. When thus braced the upper and lower portions of the case 8 resting on upper and lower edges 21 and 23 will serve as an easel supporting the upstanding binder contents. The fact that the upper edges of all the panels are resting on a supporting surface makes the support for propping the binder contents extremely stable and secure against tipping.

The lower edges of flanged walls 32 of the latching plate are preferably tapered as indicated at 33 for a linear contact with back panel it) when the plate is positioned at the lower end of slots 30. The plate 26 may, however, be moved to any adjusted position between the ends of slots 36 as will be appreciated from FlG. 3, and be fricticnally latched in such position by the panel portions spreading to the degree desired for a particular angle of inclination of the binder pages.

It will readily be seen that the binder may be changed back from its easel position to the normal binder form by tipping plate 26 upwardly to loosen the bite of the ears and sliding and swinging it into nested position. The length of plate 26 is preferably so related to the location of the upper edges of slots 30 that its lower edge may slide into nested position just above the area of the hinge '18 and then be moved downwardly along plate 28 to be tucked between plate 28 and the hinge area of panel or just below it. This is shown by the phantom line position of FIG. 3 and thus the latch plate may be held neatly and firmly in place when the binder is open and held with the upper portions of the covers inadvertently pivoted to a slight degree on the transverse hinge. With the plate 26 so positioned, there is no interference in freely swinging the covers into planar relation for closing the binder or for correcting an inadvertent pivotal movement caused in otherwise handling the binder in a normal way.

The binder case 8 is preferably formed of flexible but relatively stiff cover panels. A decorative outside covering is provided by plastic sheet material as the pair of superposed sheets 42 (FIG. 6). The sheets are preferably heat-scalable and stiflieners 44 for the various panels 10, 12, and 14 are laminated and pocketed between the sheets in the separate areas of the panel sections. The peripheral edges around the outside of the case, the dividing hinge lines between cover and back panels, and the transverse hinge lines dividing the upper and lower portions of the panels are all formed by heat sealing or welding the contacting inner surface portions of the sheets 40' and 42.

Again referring to FIG. 1 it will be seen that this type of panel construction forms a binder case, the outward appearance of which is distinguishable only by the transverse hinge lines visible from the outside. To the casual observer such lines may appear to be surface ornamentation only. The added utility of the construction has thus been achieved without sacrifice of normal appearance and commercial acceptance from the standpoint of sales appeal. It will also be noted that when the covers are opened in normal binder use the channel strip 28 on which the case and ring metal are both mounted is unoba trusive and the latch plate 26 nests with plate 28 in a substantially concealed position in the assembly.

The flanged walls 32 of plate 26 in nested position also overlap and more or less cover the notched or slotted portions and contribute to a neat-appearing back panel sheet holding assembly, all of which to the casual observer is -to all outward appearances similar to the known and recognized ordinary binder assembly.

What is claimed is:

1. in binder case construction having a pair of stiff cover panels and a back panel hinged between the covers said panels being transversely divided and having correspondingly proportioned upper and lower portions hingedly connected together for turning the upper portions rearwardly into an angular easel-support position relative to the lower portions when said panels are all in co-planar relationship; mechanism for bracing said upper and lower panel portions in various selectively adjustable angular positions of easel support for display and reading purposes, said mechanism comprising a rigid U-shaped channel member fixed to the lower portion of the back panel and extending upwardly thereof for mounting sheet holding means thereon between the covers, and a brace of similar U-shaped channel form, the side Walls of said U-shaped brace extending upwardly beyond the connecting wall thereof and having inwardly facing ears on said upper extensions, the side walls of said channel member being notched along opposing upper sections thereof and receiving said ears in overlying spaced relation to the edges of said notches for sliding and pivotal movement of said brace relative to said channel member, said ears limiting pivotal movement of said brace rearwardly away from said channel member to a fixed angular relation thereto and said brace, when swung towards said angled relation, being slidable to any position along said notches for resting the lower end of said brace against the inside surface of the upper portion of said back panel when the upper portions of all said panels are collectively swung into an easel-supporting angular relation, whereby the angled relation of said panels may be varied for selecting the desired angle of easel-support for the binder contents, said brace when swung against said channel member nesting therewith and means for releasably securing said brace in said nested condition.

2. In a binder case construction having a pair of stiff cover panels hinged to a back panel, said panels being transversely divided into upper and lower portions hinged together for swinging movement of the upper panel portions rearwardly into angular easel-support position relative to the lower panel portions, means within said binder case for adjustably holding said upper and lower panel portions in various angular relationships comprising a rigid strip member aifixed to the lower portion of the back panel and extending upwardly thereof, a rigid brace member of unitary construction, and means slidably and ivotably interconnecting one end of said brace member to said strip member, said brace member being free at its other end for swinging movement toward and away from said strip member, said interconnecting means including means limiting the swinging movement of said brace member to an acute angle relative to said strip member and frictionally inhibiting sliding movement of said brace member when it is disposed in said acute angular relationship.

References Cited in the file of this patent v UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,889,962 Johnson Dec. 6, 1932 1,957,039 Buenger et al May 1, 1934 2,390,125 Schade Dec. 4, 1945 2,883,209 Erickson Apr. 21, 1959 

2. IN A BINDER CASE CONSTRUCTION HAVING A PAIR OF STIFF COVER PANELS HINGED TO A BACK PANEL, SAID PANELS BEING TRANSVERSELY DIVIDED INTO UPPER AND LOWER PORTIONS HINGED TOGETHER FOR SWINGING MOVEMENT OF THE UPPER PANEL PORTIONS REARWARDLY INTO ANGULAR EASEL-SUPPORT POSITION RELATIVE TO THE LOWER PANEL PORTIONS, MEANS WITHIN SAID BINDER CASE FOR ADJUSTABLY HOLDING SAID UPPER AND LOWER PANEL PORTIONS IN VARIOUS ANGULAR RELATIONSHIPS COMPRISING A RIGID STRIP MEMBER AFFIXED TO THE LOWER PORTION OF THE BACK PANEL AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY THEREOF, A RIGID BRACE MEMBER OF UNITARY CONSTRUCTION, AND MEANS SLIDABLY AND 